Warlock/Sorcerer advice

[Herobizkit]

4) Consider the Battle Sorcerer from Unearthed Arcana if your DM will add it to the list you provided. If so, you'll give up a few spells/level in exchange for never worrying about ASF.

This. You're going to be lobbing Eldritch Blasts pretty much every fight, so you can use your Sorc spell levels for more interesting choices than raw damage (but don't forget those Orb spells, cheesy as they are). And if you REALLY need to get in to melee and mix it up, you won't be a total slouch.

 

[Theroc]

War/Sorc?

1) Look at the Heritage feats for Sorcerers. I'd take the Infernal Heritage Sorc feat, followed by Infernal Sorc Howl: gotta love that Sonic damage...esp. since its an area of effect attack! It also is unaffected by ASF, grappling, etc.

Celestial heritage would also be a bit of a laugher from a RP perspective. Its damage is limited to affecting only evil critters, meaning you'd be able to do an AE attack that won't affect your partymates who are engaged in melee with your targets.

2) I would also probably go with some kind of polearm. If somebody grapples you...well...shout in their face (see above).

3) Take a close look at Reserve feats- another way to get use out of your spell levels without being concerned about ASF.

4) Consider the Battle Sorcerer from Unearthed Arcana if your DM will add it to the list you provided. If so, you'll give up a few spells/level in exchange for never worrying about ASF.

1. The heritage feats seem to be a big hit, but I am trying to keep this character from being evil, revolving more around the Chaotic spectrum

2. Well, as a War/Sorc, my only option is Greatspear, really, seeing as the others are martial weapons.

3. This is why I'm taking sorcerer rather than Dread Necromancer (Dread Necromancer has Average BAB, proficiency with any one martial weapon [without the light or one handed restriction of battle sorcerer] and automatic ignore ASF for Light armor). I was looking more into the utility feats mostly, though was considering other ones to up my DC's... since mine will be abominable due to low stats(since the DM hasn't answered my request for a reroll yet).

4. I'm kinda assuming he is allowing it since he listed the SRD as a source.

As for Orb spells, aren't those in Spell Compendium? Or are they like in Complete Arcane too? (Haven't perused spell lists much, since this will be one of my first casters that need a 'spells known' listing)

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Orb spells should be in C.Arcane as well as SpC. I mean, the warmage is in CA, and they get the orb spells...

 

[irdeggman]

Orb spells should be in C.Arcane as well as SpC. I mean, the warmage is in CA, and they get the orb spells...

Yup - for a "blaster" type warmage/warlock is much better combo than sorcerer/warlock.

Fey feat chain works best for enchantment oriented spellcasters (again Hideaous laughter is awesome) - but not on warmage's list.

But eldritch theurge won't help as much with a warmage since it only grants bonus spells and spells known for arcane casting class and warmage has a lot of class abilities that are worth getting.

What role are you looking for with your character?

 

[Theroc]

What role are you looking for with your character?

Well, I primarily wanted the Sorcerer side of things to be able to cover the utility spells, with a few blaster spells (particularly later to place as rider-on effects onto my Eldritch blasts... such as a Wail of the Banshee Spellblast[If the game progresses that far]), but primarily the Sorcerer spells would be for more utility purposes and for powering utility reserve feats... at least, that's what I had in mind.

Edit: As for a specific role, I hadn't fully conjured his part role, since the party wasn't fully composed yet. Figuring with the Warlock's Deceive Item and such he can use wands to fill any small gaps. The group already has a Wizard Cleric(who is channeling negative energy and rebuking undead and a specialized Necromancer AFAIK) who is heading for the True Necromancer PrC. Not sure about the rest of the party, as generation hasn't gone too far, though I believe the DM is playing a fighter in the adventure as well.

 

[irdeggman]

Well, I primarily wanted the Sorcerer side of things to be able to cover the utility spells, with a few blaster spells (particularly later to place as rider-on effects onto my Eldritch blasts... such as a Wail of the Banshee Spellblast[If the game progresses that far]), but primarily the Sorcerer spells would be for more utility purposes and for powering utility reserve feats... at least, that's what I had in mind.

Edit: As for a specific role, I hadn't fully conjured his part role, since the party wasn't fully composed yet. Figuring with the Warlock's Deceive Item and such he can use wands to fill any small gaps. The group already has a Wizard Cleric(who is channeling negative energy and rebuking undead and a specialized Necromancer AFAIK) who is heading for the True Necromancer PrC. Not sure about the rest of the party, as generation hasn't gone too far, though I believe the DM is playing a fighter in the adventure as well.

Be careful with the eldritch theurge progression - like most of the other ones it only progresses invocations known/damage and CL. You do not gain any other class abilites - like imbue item, fiendish resilience or energy resistance and the warlock's DR doesn't go up due to class levels.

It will take a while to gain any spells on the sorcerer side that you can use utility reserve feats for though.

You also get detect magic as an at-will warlock ability (which is really, really handy)

You do need to boost your charisma in order to make good use of deceive item.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1. The heritage feats seem to be a big hit, but I am trying to keep this character from being evil, revolving more around the Chaotic spectrum

Actually, the Heritage feats don't have alignment prereqs...at least not the Draconic, Celestial or Infernal ones, as I recall.

(The ones from the Planar Handbook may differ.)

In addition, if you have the Draconomicon, there are some Draconic feats that are similar to the Reserve feats, doing things like letting you fling electrical orbs instead of using the Electrical breath weapon...

2. Well, as a War/Sorc, my only option is Greatspear, really, seeing as the others are martial weapons.

Greatspear is an Exotic weapon- I think you mean longspear, right?

At any rate, if you go for a reach weapon build, I'd still consider burning a feat on a quality reach weapon at some point, be it martial or exotic.

In addition, with a Quiver of Ehlonna (a.k.a. Efficient Quiver), a high-dex caster based on casting rays, orbs and other ranged touch attacks can become a mini-howitzer. Since the other feats for that build are Point-Blank Shot and Precise shot, you'll get full benefit of those feats with your spears, javelins and X-bow bolts in the Quiver...and in this particular case, your Eldritch Blast. (And certain Reserve feats as well.)

I don't know if your group uses the DCv1 at all, but its full of polearms- many updated all the way from AD&D- and polearm feats as well.

 

[Theroc]

Actually, the Heritage feats don't have alignment prereqs...at least not the Draconic, Celestial or Infernal ones, as I recall.

(The ones from the Planar Handbook may differ.)

In addition, if you have the Draconomicon, there are some Draconic feats that are similar to the Reserve feats, doing things like letting you fling electrical orbs instead of using the Electrical breath weapon...


Greatspear is an Exotic weapon- I think you mean longspear, right?

At any rate, if you go for a reach weapon build, I'd still consider burning a feat on a quality reach weapon at some point, be it martial or exotic.

In addition, with a Quiver of Ehlonna (a.k.a. Efficient Quiver), a high-dex caster based on casting rays, orbs and other ranged touch attacks can become a mini-howitzer. Since the other feats for that build are Point-Blank Shot and Precise shot, you'll get full benefit of those feats with your spears, javelins and X-bow bolts in the Quiver...and in this particular case, your Eldritch Blast. (And certain Reserve feats as well.)

I don't know if your group uses the DCv1 at all, but its full of polearms- many updated all the way from AD&D- and polearm feats as well.

Well, I wasn't dead set on a reach build, just figured I lob Eldritch Blasts till they got close, then nail them over the head. Kinda cool aesthetic, I suppose.

As for Heritage Feats, Fey Heritage requires "Non-Lawful", and Fiendish requires "Non-Good". Draconic requires nothing at all.

I don't know which books the other heritages are in, but the ones I know of are in Complete Arcane and Complete Mage. Unfortunately I don't have access to the Draconomicon yet.

And I've no idea what DCv1 is, but the group is a Play by Post group on Enworld, and it's not one of the DM's listed available sources, nor is it one I have access to.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Draconic, Celestial and Infernal Sorcerer Heritage are all devoid of alignment prereqs.

http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/featsform.pl

And just FYI, DCv1 is Dragon Compendium vol. 1.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I think longspear is actually a pretty good weapon, actually. Kinda low base damage, but after a while that doesn't matter much anyway. It gives you the reach and set vs. charge, and a decent crit (x3)...can't really ask for more from a simple weapon.

For heritage feats...I'd say go fey heritage or none at all. Fey seems pretty good, and you have plenty of other feat options. I guess draconic could work solely because of the sorcerer side. In particular, there's a draconic feat called Practical Metamagic to reduce the level cost of a metamagic feat you have by 1, even reducing it to +0 (but not below that)! Unlike the Easy Metamagic feat, which cannot bring the cost below +1. This can be useful if you specialize in an energy type, for example: Searing Spell (from Sandstorm) is a +1 to ignore all fire resistance and immunites of all but those with the fire subtype. That book's not allowed, but there are other nice options, like having all your sorcerer spells Still for free (making the armor issue moot). Doing that requires the PH2 variant or C.Mage feat to cast metamagic spontaneously w/o a time increase, though. And of course, Races of the Dragon for Practical Metamagic...

EDIT: According to the site Danny linked to, Practical is also limited to no less than +1 adjustment...Maybe my DM was inadvertently using a houserule...